WNC Wildcats ranked 16th by College Baseball Newspaper in pre-season poll
CARSON CITY — College Baseball Newspaper has included Western Nevada College in its 2014 National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Preseason Poll.
The Wildcats are ranked 16th, marking the seventh straight season that Coach D.J. Whittemore’s team has been nationally ranked in the preseason. It ties the Wildcats with Iowa Western for the longest-running streak for inclusion in the preseason top-20 national rankings.
Central Alabama, last year’s national champion, tops the preseason poll. Palm Beach State, Fla., is next, followed by Cochise, Ariz., which eliminated WNC in the Western District championship game last spring.
WNC finished last season one victory shy of qualifying for the NJCAA World Series for the fourth time. The Wildcats won the Region 18 title and finished with a 44-20 record.
Whittemore welcomes back six returning position players, including Conor Harber, who set program records with a .411 batting average and 11 triples last season, and will play for the Oregon Ducks in 2015.